have surpassed expectations. During 1903 Australia again resumed its position as the foremost pastoral country of the world. The expenditure on water conservation of a moiety of the sum represented by the losses of the season of 1901-2 would go far towards solving the problem of how to utilise to their best advantage the fertile but comparatively rainless districts of the interior. Outside of a system of water conservation the only other alternative appears to be the construction of light lines of railway in the pastoral districts to enable the stock to be moved quickly from place to place in periods of drought, although these would not be of much avail in some seasons. The number of stock in Australasia, expressed in terms of sheep, the number of acres per sheep, and the number of sheep per head of population, at various dates since 1861, were as given below : 1861 1871 1881 1891 1901 1903 23,741,706 40,398,390 4,599,700 68,739,796 28-7 18.8 11.1 7.5 9.4 VALUE OF PASTORAL PROPERTY AND PRODUCTION. The total value of pastoral property in Australasia—that is, of improvements, plant, and stock-was estimated a few years ago at £242,000,000. This estimate does not include land, but merely the stock, other than swine, depastured, and the improvements effected in the grazing area. It is difficult if not impossible to assign an exact value to the lands devoted to pastoral purposes, for though much purchased land is used for depasturing stock, the larger area comprises lands leased from the state, so that a statement which omitted to take into account the value of the state lands would be misleading. The annual return from pastoral pursuits in 1903 was £33,196,930, the share of each state in the total production being as follows: : The products of dairy cattle and swine are not included in the foregoing statement, the figures being given in another place. It should be understood that the values quoted are those at the place of production. The value of the return from each class of stock may be approximately reckoned as follows: As might be supposed, the greater part of the value of production from sheep is due to wool. Thus, out of the £24,157,257 shown above, £17,961,055 is the value of wool, viz. :-£17,686,055 for wool exported, and £275,000 for wool used locally. The value of the wool exported, according to the Customs returns, was £18,093,155—that is to say, £407,100 more than the figures shown above. The excess represents the charges for freight, handling, etc., between the sheep-walks and the port of shipment. The price of wool, which in 1899 was much higher than for many years previously, declined almost as suddenly as it had advanced, and as the production for 1901 did not show much increase, except in New Zealand, the total value compared unfavourably with preceding years, and fell short of that of 1899 by £6,165,000. In 1903 wool again rose considerably in value, and though the production was some 100,000,000 lb. less than in 1901, owing to the increased price the receipts only fell in value to the extent of 5 per cent. The following figures show the chief sources of origin of the wool imported into Europe and North America during the period 1900-03. Nearly all the wool produced in Australasia is exported, the home consumption being small, amounting to only 2-6 lb. greasy, per head of population; while in Europe and America the quantity of wool available for consumption by the industry amounts to about 5 lb. per head. During the last two quinquennial periods the consumption of wool in Europe and America has averaged as follows: 1891-94 5.12 lb. per head of population 5.19 lb. The quantity, in the grease, of wool produced by each state at decennial periods since 1871 was as follows: : New South Wales... Queensland South Australia... Western Australia.. lb. lb. lb. lb. Ib. 74,401,300 161,022,900 321,416,000 301,942,000 227,004,320 63,641,100 67,794,300 69,205.600 74,879,300 54,608,582 36,553,200 34,275,300 83,118,100| 70,141,800 52,983,899 28,242,100 46,013,900 50,151,500 39,951,700 46,066,517 1.888,000 4,654,600 9,501,700 14,049,000 13,306,106 6,687,800 10,525,100 10,102,900 8,939,000 5,916,897 Commonwealth 211,413,500 324,286,100 543,495,800 509,902,800 399,886,321 New Zealand..... 46,192,300 69,055,600 117,733,500 164,011,500 177,575,197 Australasia...... 257,605,800 393,341,700 661,229,300 673,914,300 577,461,518 The great fall in production is seen from the above table, which shows that the only states where an increase has taken place since 1891 are Western Australia and New Zealand, all the others showing a large decline. The increase in New Zealand has taken place in spite of the heavy demands upon the resources of the colony for the supply of sheep to meet the requirements of the London market in frozen mutton. The weight of wool per sheep has been increasing regularly in each of the states, as will be seen from the following table, which shows the weight of clip per sheep at each decennial interval since 1861. It is manifest that the Victorian figures are unreliable, because there is no reason to suppose that there was a decline in the weight of the fleece in 1891; on the contrary, it is known to have been steadily improving. The Western Australian and Tasmanian results also show irregularities, and are omitted from the table. The figures for New South Wales and Queensland best represent the increase in the weight of the fleece on the mainland, and the New Zealand returns are also believed to be correct. In South Australia the weight of wool per sheep has been consistently higher than in the other states, but the results are derived from the official statistics, and it would appear that the number of sheep in that state has been under-estimated." The values of the excess of exports over imports in each state for the period 1871-1903 were as follows. A careful examination of the figures proves rather conclusively that less care than might have been expected has been taken in stating the values, except in New South Wales and New Zealand, but they are obtained from the official records, and are given for what they are worth : New South Wales Victoria Queensland 4,705,820 7,173,166 10,927,487 9,050,884 8,522,999 4,483,461 2,562,769 3,792,938 2,510,219 1,804,407 1,158,833 1,331,869 3,453,548 2,130,778 1,867,652 Commonwealth New Zealand 11,882,736 13,396,207 | 20,461,877 15,370,321 14,051,767 1,606,144 2,914,046 4,129,686 3,669,642 4,041,388 13,488,880 16,310,253 24,591,563 19,039,963 18,093,155 Australasia Western Australia was the only state to show an increase in the value during the year over that obtained in 1891. The Customs figures are not necessarily a reliable guide as to the value of the wool clip in any particular year, since the returns show the exports up to the 31st December only, whereas the wool year does not close until six months later. Consequently, if the clip be late, as was the case last season, a large proportion of the quantity exported appears in the Customs returns for the following year. The figures for 1903 are therefore considerably less than they would have been under ordinary conditions. According to the London returns, the imports of Australasian wool into Europe and America during the 1903 wool season comprised 1,451,000 bales, which at an average of £13 10s. per bale represents a total value of £19,588,500. For the previous season the imports were 1,699,000 bales, averaging £11 16s. 7d., equivalent to a total value of £20,097,754, so that notwithstanding the smaller import in 1903 the returns for that year were only £500,000 below those of the previous season. Wool realised a high price in Australia at the sales closing in June, 1904, the average per bale being £12 7s. 3d., as against £11 18s. 4d. for the preceding year. In a comparison between London and Australian prices it may be taken that freight and other charges add from 15s. to £1 per bale to the Australian rates, while the former returns include also New Zealand wool, which is not so valuable as that grown in Australia. The shipments of wool from Australasia during the twelve months ending June, 1904, show a decrease of 73,780 bales on the totals for the preceding year. The quantity shipped by the Commonwealth fell off by 19,972 bales, and the exports from New Zealand by 53,808 bales. There was a slight expansion in the Queensland, South Australian, and Western Australian trade. From present indications the current season will be a phenomenal one so far as concerns the yield of wool per sheep. The pastures throughout almost the whole of the Commonwealth are in good condition, the lambing has been excellent, and the growth of wool heavy but sound, and the staple well-developed. It seems not unlikely that on many large runs the flocks will yield an average of from 9 to 10 lb. of wool per head, which at present prices is equivalent to a return of about 7s. per head of sheep shorn. It is probable that the growth of wool has never been exceeded, and indications are so favourable that the net return of wool will very considerably exceed the returns for last year, while the quality of the product is excellent. The continental demand for last season's clip was very keen, and of the 720,421 bales sold in Australian markets no less than 63 per cent. was taken by continental buyers, while 24 per cent. was secured by Great Britain, 4 per cent. by America, and the remaining 9 per cent. by local manufacturers and Japanese and Eastern buyers. Of the 1,685,000 bales of Australasian and South African wool consumed in England, the Continent, and America during 1903, the respective proportions taken by each were 38.5 per cent., 58 per cent., and 3.5 per cent., as compared with 42.5 per cent., 54 per cent., and 3.5 per cent. in 1902. The price per lb. obtained for wool in grease in London at the end of each year from 1890 was as follows: |